Nicholas Carr: IT still doesn't matter

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Ok so IT doesn't matter - so what does?

If IT can't get us competitive advantage - what can?

To me this guy has see the symptom, but identified the wrong
disease. The problem ISN'T IT doesn't matter, it's "the software
crisis". Writing bespoke IT solutions (ones that actually CAN gain
advantage) is too risky, too slow and cost too much.

Simply put - we still can't build software very well. Often project
suck up huge amounts of money, take far longer than they
should and are either made irrelevant by changing conditions, or
collapse under their own weight (complexity).

What's needed is productivity gains in BUILDING solutions, where
they aren't too risky, too slow and too expensive. IT has side
stepped this issue by using "prebuilt" solutions that don't fully
address the real problems. IT isn't a commodity, it simply isn't
good enough yet to be called that. Computers aren't really very
reliable (like say a car or a wristwatch). The modern computer
still exposes far too much complexity to the user, and forces the
user to do repetitive tasks. The computers we have aren't
helping us much - sure things like XML, and OOP are helping,
but building large over arching IT solutions that drive
competitive advantage are still a pipedream.

Posted by: Jeremy Chappell   Posted on: 04/29/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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